In order to study the physical and chemical influence of formation water on the maturation processes of hydrocarbon source rocks in nature, researchers have used hydrous pyrolysis experiments under different conditions, analyzing the yield of hydrocarbon products, aqueous medium and stable isotope changes of hydrocarbon products. They have proved that the aqueous medium had different degrees of influence on the formation of hydrocarbon products. This paper summarizes and compares the previous simulation experiments results. As the thermal evolution of hydrocarbon source rocks in a sedimentary basin environment is a relatively low temperature and long process (generally lower than 200 ℃), laboratory conditions cannot completely reproduce this geological process. Therefore, this article emphasizes the causes behind the similarities and differences of conclusions drawn under different thermal simulation conditions, especially comparing results from natural sedimentary basins and laboratory experiments, and discusses the significance and limitations of conclusions drawn from laboratory experiment data,so as to better understand the influence of the aqueous medium on hydrocarbon generation in hydrocarbon source rocks.